By Lee Chi-dong WASHINGTON, July 29 (Yonhap) -- South Korea and the United States on Monday discussed ways to boost cooperation in aeronautics research and space exploration, the U.S. space agency said.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said its administrator, Charles Bolden, and Kim Seung-jo, president of the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, met at NASA's headquarters in Washington, D.C. It was their first meeting.

"Our two agencies share a mutual interest in aeronautics research, and have identified opportunities for collaboration," said Bolden. "We also have partnered for several years in the International Space Exploration Coordination Group and are looking forward to continued discussions on potential cooperation in space exploration."

They also discussed NASA's plans for a new asteroid initiative, announced in President Barack Obama's fiscal year 2014 budget proposal, it said in a press release.

NASA's asteroid initiative involves robotically capturing a small near-Earth asteroid and redirecting it safely to a stable lunar orbit where astronauts can explore it, according to the agency.

In January, South Korea joined the global space club with a successful launch of a satellite into orbit.